I don't understand how people use laptops for extended periods of time. The only comfortable way to use a laptop is with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. The author talks about ergonomics but still uses a laptop. Laptops are for doing work on a plane or taking to a hotel room when traveling, not for being a daily driver in my book (at least not without peripherals). The keyboard on laptops is too close together, the screen is at the wrong height and angle. Trackpads are disastrous. Using a laptop for 8 hours feels like the day after running a marathon but without any of the good parts.
I use an external Apple trackpad and it's been a relief for my right arm, I only use a mouse for gaming anymore as game-specific muscle memory doesn't seem to translate well. It does feel very ergonomic to me, almost on par with a vertical mouse, but those are always too big for my hands.
I get why people wouldn't want to do that with Windows laptop trackpads though, not to speak of Linux, which seems to really struggle with trackpads.
I don't know about an external one. But the standard track pad is in the center of the screen/keyboard layout and quite close to your body. Its non-ergonomic.
I’ve been using trackpad primarily with my thumb for about 6 years now. Obviously I have to use other fingers sometimes to scroll and drag though. I find a mouse slows me down when I have to take my hands off the keyboard to use the mouse. This is coming from a vim enthusiast (worth mentioning in this context since a big benefit of using vim is how much time is saved by not taking hands off the keyboard).
I personally only use my Macbook Air unplugged for 90% of work which includes a lot of typing and reading. This works fine for me because the vast majority of the time I'm not on my desk - sometimes I'm on the couch next to the catering area, sometimes I'm on the bench on the balcony outside, sometimes I'm in a meeting room, sometimes I'm at a cafe outside, etc and I move around all the time. IMHO, moving often and taking stretch breaks trumps any benefits you would get from a fancy ergonomic setup.
